It is true that all of these tasks can be a tedious nightmare for government agencies, and can lead to a long and painful road for the companies and developers that want to bring these innovations into the real world. But app usage is projected to increase tenfold by 2015, so government organizations need to get more familiar and comfortable with this addition to their IT strategy.
In an earlier contributed post on Government Technology, we discussed how government can once and for all make the shift to the cloud. The next step is deploying and managing apps once the shift has been made. Doing so will undoubtedly lead to challenges, but we have found that there are ways to overcome them.
Procurement and Purchasing
The procurement and purchasing process can take months, which presents a large challenge for the developers who are so eager to provide great apps for government organizations. And for government organizations, it can be a huge challenge dealing with multiple solutions coming from different vendors.Finding a solution that allows you to consolidate those purchases under a single purchasing contract can vastly reduce the time between the decision to purchase and implementation. Through a centralized platform, each government entity involved can be vetted upfront with purchasing orders, local point of payment contacts and a full legal review, making everything much easier for all parties involved.
Discovering Apps
This challenge is as much about figuring out how to find the apps as it is setting expectations of what you’re going to get once you find them. There are not many app stores available to government organizations today, but it is becoming more common, and more government sites like USA.gov and Tampa are beginning to offer custom apps to their citizens. Many vendors are also offering them.To determine what apps to purchase, or even look for, you should begin by deciding what kind of solution you are seeking. You should also set your expectations -- compared to apps in the private sector, government apps can seem primitive. Keep in mind that these apps typically act as a mobile gateway to information stored in other forms. While there are a few exceptions, most of them are just a little more than simple databases right now. Eventually, these apps will enable citizens to renew their driver’s license or vote in an election, but for now, these are huge steps towards open government.
Security and User Management
Security and user management are major concerns for government deployment of mobile and online apps. However, it is important to note that the information on these apps today are generally for public use and therefore don’t require strict security yet. For now, finding a platform that allows you to manage all of your application’s accounts, security roles and passwords is a great way to streamline this process and ensure it stays in the right hands.You should also make sure you are using apps that provide at least equivalent security to what you have today by vetting the vendors you are getting them from. In the near future, when personal identities and sensitive information begin to be stored through these apps, security will become a larger priority and become much more advanced.
Maintenance and Adoption
Only 18 percent of organizations have a strategy in place to address changes in mobile technology use and adoption. For many government organizations, the bulk of IT resources are focused on internal server maintenance, which makes it difficult to execute a coherent strategy to progress app initiatives. Not only do these apps require monitoring and updates, but as mobile technology evolves, so too do the apps that are being powered on it. Even with limited resources, you must make this an IT planning priority. If you put the time and money into deploying a great app offering to your citizens, it is well worth the time and money to maintain and upgrade it when needed.While this list certainly does not cover all of the challenges that come up for government organizations looking to deploy public sector mobile and online applications, it is a great starting point to help lay a solid foundation for building an app program. By anticipating and preparing for these challenges, those tedious tasks can become less of an issue, and more of an opportunity to experiencing the many benefits of engaging and communicating with citizens through this widely used form of technology.
Tom Spengler is the CEO and co-founder of Granicus, a cloud applications provider for government.
